Afghan police find bombs

Afghan police find bombs
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan police sealed off a main road leading to NATO and U.S. military bases in the Afghan capital today, saying they had found a bomb on the back of a motorcycle and another in a fruit cart.
British military vehicles diverted traffic from the Jalalabad Road in eastern Kabul as U.S. and NATO security agents in civilian clothes conferred with Afghan intelligence officers on how to clear the devices.
Naimatullah Jalili, an Interior Ministry general, said police had arrested three men this morning in connection with the apparent bomb plot. Jalili said officials had tailed them for three days. He declined to identity them.
Kabul, which is patrolled by thousands of NATO-led troops, has been largely spared the militant and warlord violence afflicting other parts of the country.
But tension is high because of President Hamid Karzai's announcement Monday that he was dropping from his election team Mohammed Fahim, a powerful warlord who acts as his deputy and defense minister. Rumors had circulated that Fahim would resign to support a rival in the Oct. 9 presidential vote.
NATO troops have mounted stepped up patrols with armored vehicles and helicopters.
Officials meet for talkson Korean nuclear issue
BEIJING -- An American envoy to the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program met with Chinese officials today to hammer out details on the next round of low-level meetings, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
Joseph DeTrani, the U.S. State Department delegate, was scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Ning Fukui, and other officials to "discuss preparations for the next six-party working group session," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
"The United States hopes to have a working group session as soon as possible and remains very flexible on timing," he said.
DeTrani, who arrived Wednesday, will return to Washington on Saturday, the spokesman said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan would not confirm that the officials were meeting. He said details would be released "in due course."
Former hostage testifiesagainst her abductors
MANILA, Philippines -- American missionary Gracia Burnham wept as she testified against her abductors in a heavily guarded court today, recounting a year of jungle captivity and how the allegedly Islamic extremists who kidnapped her celebrated the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Philippine authorities and FBI agents brought Burnham from an undisclosed Manila safe house to a suburban court where eight Al-Qaida-linked guerrillas accused in the kidnapping were standing trial. She arrived in the country in secrecy late Monday.
Police barred journalists, photographers and TV cameras from the proceedings, at a police camp guarded by special forces. Burnham was whisked into the courtroom wearing a baseball cap and a black jacket over a bulletproof vest, her head bowed to avoid cameras.
Burnham, from Wichita, Kan., was invited to testify under a mutual legal assistance treaty between Washington and Manila. The trial is part of the Philippines' quest to impose justice on suspected militants from the Abu Sayyaf group accused of mass kidnappings, deadly bombings and beheadings.
During 2 1/2 hours on the stand, Burnham identified six of the handcuffed suspects, separated from her by a wooden grill, prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said.
Peterson murder trial
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Scott Peterson's lawyer wants a judge to either dismiss the murder charges against his client or declare a mistrial because he alleges a police investigator lied on the witness stand.
Mark Geragos maintains Modesto Detective Allen Brocchini fabricated part of his testimony to help prosecutors prove that Peterson killed his pregnant wife, Laci, in their home and dumped her body into San Francisco Bay.
Geragos has made two other requests for a mistrial, each quickly denied by Judge Alfred A. Delucchi. This time, however, Delucchi called a special hearing today for Geragos to explain why he should act in Peterson's favor.
The judge said he would rule in the afternoon on Geragos' motions, which he has sealed pending the removal of details about Brocchini's professional history he deemed too damaging to be publicly released. Delucchi took the precaution in case jurors ignore his orders and follow the case in the media.
The information the judge sealed -- but let slip in court -- was a previous instance in which Brocchini caused a mistrial by giving testimony before a jury that the judge had ordered him not to.
Delucchi is also set to decide on a third motion -- whether to let jurors see TV interviews of Peterson.
Associated Press